


it all started with

by rainwaterheart



Series: Marinette Knows!Verse [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, Kwamis - Freeform, Secrets, kind of, kwamis trust their Chosens explicitly ok?, marinette is all-knowing (not really), master fu is mentioned like once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 05:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14301444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainwaterheart/pseuds/rainwaterheart
Summary: They’re pretty sure that Marinette has figured out everyone’s identity.(They’re certain that no one will bring it up)--prompt by mlstoryprompts on Tumblr





	it all started with

It all started with an internship.

An internship with none other than _Gabriel Agreste_ , arguably the best and most famous fashion designer in all of Paris. Despite Tikki mentioning it to the girl on several occasions, Marinette had always dismissed the possibility. It made sense, of course; Ladybug wouldn’t have time for such a commitment and, if it went wrong, it could have disastrous impact on her future as a designer. The subject was forgotten, buried underneath school and Ladybug and everything else.

Until weeks after the deadline.

“Mari! You won’t _believe_ what I did for you!”

Marinette laughed, turning toward her approaching best friend. “It wouldn’t happen to be that polka dotted fabric I’ve been eyeing, would it?”

Shaking her head, Alya slammed a single, innocent slip of paper in front of her. Her features shone with pride. “Even better – you got accepted! Get ready for the summer of your life!”

Blue eyes scanned the words on the paper. Alya, Nino, and Adrien waited eagerly for her reaction. It had been a well-planned surprise, thought out to even the very last detail. “How…”

“How did this happen?” Alya was barely able to contain her excitement, interjecting hurriedly. “I know you _said_ you were too busy, but come on! You were dying to apply from the moment you heard about it, months ago. I kind of had a feeling that you _might_ have just been worried about disappointment or rejecting, because I _know_ you can fit anything in your schedule if you really want to. And you’re in, so no need to worry about it anymore!”

“How dare you.” Marinette’s fist clutched the paper, ripping it in certain spots from the force of her grip. Her eyes were as icy as her tone, glaring at them. “I _told_ you guys that I wasn’t going to apply, that I didn’t _want_ to apply. I thought you’d take the hint and leave it alone, but I guess not. I don’t want his internship. Working with _Gabriel Agreste_ is the absolute last thing I want to do with my summer.”

The only thing she grabbed on her way out was her purse, where Tikki lay hidden away from prying eyes. Even her phone was left behind; she’d have ignored any incoming calls or texts anyway. It was only when she’d slipped inside her room and out onto her balcony that the kwami made her appearance.

“What was _that_ , Marinette? They were being good friends. Maybe they didn’t go about things the right way, but they were _trying_ and that’s what’s important. What’s wrong with the internship, anyway? Gabriel Agreste is your fashion idol so why are you so upset about this? You could probably even spend more time with Adrien, too. So what’s wrong?”

Her Chosen shook her head, frowning. She wouldn’t answer or explain. The only other words she spoke that night were used to ask Tikki to leave her alone and forget about it.

But no matter how she tried, Tikki never could completely forget.

* * *

 

It all started with a pastry.

A _cheese_ pastry, to be specific. It was Valentine’s Day and Marinette had baked a basketful of pastries for each of her friends, specially tailored to their individual tastes and preferences. The cheese pastry had been slipped in, almost mistakenly, amongst the others she’d given to Adrien.

The boy, oblivious as ever, simply passed it over to Plagg and moved on with his night. It was weird, fine, but Plagg got cheese and no one was bothered so in the end it couldn’t matter.

But then, the next day, Marinette had done something strange. While the others praised her about her baking skills and selections, she’d glanced over at Adrien and asked how he’d liked the cheese pastry. “I went out on a limb a bit, but I hope your – that it was okay.” There was something about the way she’d said it, something that implied there was originally supposed to be more to the sentence but she’d changed her mind at the last second.

Adrien, knowing very well that he’d fed it to Plagg, nodded politely. “Of course, Marinette. It was as delicious as everything else you made.”

It would’ve probably ended there, but then Alya frowned. “Marinette, Adrien is lactose intolerant. Why would you give him something with cheese in it?” And then, turning to face Adrien, she gave him a concerned once-over. “You didn’t _actually_ eat it, did you?”

Before Alya or Adrien could continue, Marinette interrupted. “Oh. Right, of course. I knew that. Erm, sorry Adrien. It won’t happen again.”

Except it did. Every time Adrien received a pastry basket from her, there would be an innocent cheese Danish hidden in with the batch. The model, oblivious as ever, merely thought it a funny quirk of his friend’s and passed the pastry to Plagg each time.

But when the cheese shifted to camembert, the kwami started having his suspicions.

* * *

 

It all started with a farewell.

Nooroo didn’t receive many opportunities to interact with anyone other than Gabriel Agreste. Which, okay, that’s fair, because a kwami is only really supposed to talk to their Chosen anyway. Still, though, he can’t help but miss the younger Gabriel. The one that was still carefree and in love and _happy_. If you’d asked the kwami years ago what he envisioned for Gabriel’s future, this would have never occurred to him even in his wildest dreams.

The purple creature makes his way down to the bedroom of Adrien Agreste, his Chosen’s son. He has to be careful not to be seen, but he can’t help himself. Nooroo can remember the days when Adrien was only years old and his mother’s laughter filled the house; the coldness of the atmosphere is a cruel imitation.

Slipping in quietly and unseen, Nooroo hides himself amongst Adrien’s many possessions. But… there’s something different about the room. Adrien has a friend over, it appears. Gabriel hadn’t warned him. The girl is somehow achingly familiar. It takes a good few minutes of studying her for him to decide he’s never seen her before. So why is there something that tells him he _knows_ her?

It isn’t until he sees it. A flash of red, darting from her purse and off to who-knows-where. Tikki? This girl is Ladybug. This girl is _Ladybug_. Ladybug is friends with Adrien Agreste who is the son of Gabriel Agreste who is Hawkmoth who is targeting Ladybug. Ladybug is in Hawkmoth’s house. He’s already begun to move toward Tikki to tell her to _get the girl out_. At the last minute he stops himself.

He can’t reveal that he regularly goes to the Agreste mansion. It will imply that someone within these walls is Hawkmoth. Which is _true_ , but he can’t let Tikki find out.

Gabriel may have gone down a dark path, but he’s still Nooroo’s Chosen. Nooroo will forever care for the grieving man. The bond between kwami and Chosen is sacred and unbreakable. He knows that Tikki will understand this, but still he ventures back into his hiding spot. Maybe he can still help Gabriel on his own. There’s no need to involve Ladybug and her kwami.

There is a resolve in him that he will not move until the girl is gone and Adrien is out of his room. It was risky enough coming this far. So he settles in, listens to Adrien and the girl. Her name is Marinette, he learns. About two hours after he arrived, Nathalie calls Adrien to discuss his schedule. Marinette stays seated, allowing her friend to take care of business.

“Hmm,” she mutters after a few moments. “There sure are a lot of butterflies flying around, isn’t there?”

Tikki flies over to her Chosen, voice hushed. “Marinette, what are you talking about?”

The blue-eyed girl laughs. “Sorry, it’s nothing, Tikki. I just really love spring. Before Hawkmoth, I also loved butterflies. But don’t worry, I’ll always be a ladybug girl.”

This girl is strange; stranger than he’d imaged Ladybug to be. The interaction is interrupted by Adrien walking back in. “Sorry about that, Marinette. Turns out I have an early-morning shoot now.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I need to be leaving anyway. I promised my parents that I would help bake tonight anyway. See you tomorrow?”

He nodded, patting her shoulder. “See you then.”

As she walked out, she halted in the doorway and turned. Her smile was wide and her eyes held a gleam that whispered of untold secrets. He could’ve sworn that her gaze shifted over to his hiding place as she said one final farewell for the night.

* * *

 

At this point, Tikki, Plagg, and Nooroo had each come to their own conclusion. They were fairly certain that Marinette knew everyone’s identity. And they were also fairly certain that no one would mention it.

Tikki trusted her Chosen. If Marinette knew things and was holding them back, she had to have a reason.

Plagg’s reach was too limited. He had no access to her.

Nooroo hoped that she would be able to fix things. Ladybugs were known for healing and fixing. Maybe, just maybe, she could fix Gabriel too.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> So, explanation time :)
> 
> \---Note! You do not have to read this. It just goes a little into my thought process when incorporating certain elements. If you're interested in that, great. If not, you can just skip it.
> 
> The reason Marinette is upset about internship: she knows that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth and, while she can handle him in short bursts, she doesn’t want to be around him for extended periods of time. Mainly because he could find out who she is. But also because he’s Hawkmoth.  
> \---Along that vein, why was she so mad about it? Well, mostly she was just caught off guard. She'd gone to school that day with no clue that she'd be, in a way, ambushed like that. It surprised her and she reacted emotionally and irrationally.
> 
> Why doesn’t she just tell Tikki about all of this? Hawkmoth may be her enemy, but he’s also her crush/partner/friend’s father. She knows that Adrien has already lost one parent figure. She’s trying to figure things out on her own before she gets others (Tikki, Master Fu, Chat, etc) involved and things get too complicated. She doesn’t tell about Adrien’s ID because, to her, it isn’t her secret. Even though she trusts Tikki with her life, she believes that it should be his choice to tell anyone, even a kwami.
> 
> The cheese pastry: it’s just really cute okay? The detail about the switch to camembert is important because, aside from it being *Plagg’s cheese*, it also isn’t cheese you would find at a bakery. The fact that it’s there means that she went out of her way to buy his preferred cheese and bake it into a pastry. She even slips it in the basket, fully aware that Adrien/Chat probably thinks she’s either dumb or rude for ignoring his lactose intolerance. It’s just cute.
> 
> Nooroo: we don’t know very much about the butterfly kwami at all. I went for a more gentle portrayal, because I think of butterflies as gentle.
> 
> Why doesn’t Nooroo recruit Tikki’s help? I tried to portray it above, but Nooroo really cares about his Chosen. Even though Gabriel has gone down a bad path, Nooroo can remember the man that he once was and believes that that version of him is still there somewhere. He knows Tikki wouldn’t try to hurt the man, but Master Fu would probably try to take the Miraculous away from him.
> 
> Nooroo, Adrien, and Emilie: here, I wrote under the idea that Gabriel had the Miraculous for at least a while before his wife disappeared. He didn’t hide his identity from her or their son. Nooroo played with Adrien all the time. (Note, Hawkmoth wasn’t prevalent in Paris before because there wasn’t some big crisis supervillain person to face. I imagine he mostly stuck to the shadows, occasionally sending an akuma to boost a cop or something).


End file.
